


Flying Lessons

by MaeDay (Wolf_Shadow)



Category: Bayonetta (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 05:17:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6225478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolf_Shadow/pseuds/MaeDay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cereza is a naturally talented witch with great power and ability.<br/>Yet she still needs a bit of instruction to grasp the finer points of being an Umbra, and Jeanne is bound and determined to give it to her.<br/>Even if Cereza would rather be doing something a bit more 'fun' ;) .</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Lessons

The first time Cereza managed her flying best within, she crashed.

A strenuous training session in the wane sunlight of autumn had Jeanne putting Cereza through everyone of her paces, and though the dark haired woman learned only from Jeanne in whatever spare moments they could find together, she showed remarkable talent and skill.  
Jeanne would credit her own teaching skills if it wasn’t an overly arrogant thing to do, or if indeed she could take much credit for Cereza’s growing power, but as it was, she knew Cereza had a gift for Umbran techniques and powers.  
She would have been a prodigy, if her kind haven’t branded her an outcast.

Still, that didn’t mean she didn’t have to actually practice the skills.

“As sleek as that form is, I’m afraid it’s still missing wings.” Jeanne clipped dryly as Cereza dropped from the sky onto four panther legs, the tall grass of the field swishing about her paws.

An irritated snarl melted into a groan as Cereza shifted back to human form, butterfly mask glinting in the light. “Well, maybe I’d find my wings if I could get better instructions. ” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“You’re getting the same instructions as myself, and any other witch for that matter.” Jeanne replied, ignoring the obvious baiting. They weren’t here to practice combat skills, and that’s where the session would head if she gave in to Cereza’s ploy.

“ ‘Reach inside and feel the pull of primal energy’ would be a lot more helpful if that wasn’t the same exact way to shift to my cat form.” Cereza stalked close and put her hands on her hips, her hooded train fluttering in the breeze. “Jumping into the air doesn’t really change anything if I can shift to panther there as well.”

Jeanne sniffed and raised a brow. “You can shift into a panther whenever you please, the difference between the forms is 'need’. My cat gives me speed and ferocity, my owl gives me height and freedom, my dodge creature, whatever it will be, will give me escape and cunning. They are all from the primal part of ourselves, which is part of why we don’t need the moon to transform, but like all things primal, their drive is need.”

Cereza sighed dramatically, then her eyes focused on Jeanne with a mischievous glint. “Hmmm, need you say?”

Jeanne knew that look, knew it very well. She had to suppress as shudder as Cereza sauntered close, gloved fingers coming up to trail down her crossed arm.

“So you’re saying I just have to find the right need to drag my birdy self into reality? Hmm…” Cereza’s fingers shifted to Jeanne’s hip, toying along the patterned lines of her red suit. “Well, I can think of a few needs that might help me work my powers out, would you mind giving me a hand with them Jeanne? I’d be ever so grateful…”

Jeanne was on the verge of rolling her eyes and shoving her lover away when inspiration struck. Flashing her best coy grin, she leaned into Cereza touch and tilted her head, exposing the length of her pale neck. “Hm, well I don’t know Cereza, you’re being an awfully naughty student today, I think I might have to punish you for your misbehavior.” Her grin widened as Cereza’s eyes flashed and her tongue flickered out to wet her lips.

“Oh?” Cereza’s voice was husky now, “and what exactly did you have in mind for punishment, professor?”

“This.” Jeanne said simply, then in one move she wrapped her arms around Cereza’s waist, coiled her legs and then shot them both into the air.

Cereza’s startled yelp was only half as satisfying as her angry “Jeanne!” As Jeanne shoved her away and neatly shifted into her owl form, broad wings drawing her up and away even as Cereza started to fall back to earth.

Then there was a sort of popping noise, a loud 'CAW’ and in the place where Cereza had hung was a massive crow.  
Because of course Cereza would be a crow.

Jeanne held position, watching with a mix of pride and joy as Cereza awkwardly flapped about. Her glittering black wings unstable in the calm air.  
She quickly found her rhythm, and then with what looked like a confused look about, she turned her eyes upwards to look at Jeanne.

With a trilling hoot, Jeanne lightly banked down and fluttered before Cereza, letting out a series of pleased sounds in congratulations.

Though her beak was incapable of it, Jeanne could tell Cereza was grinning. With triumphant caw, Cereza dived away, then began to swoop in large circles, banking up and then back down again as she began to feel the flow of her new wings.

Jeanne watched her carefully, taking note on the ways Cereza could improve her skills but mostly enjoying the carefree way Cereza spun and danced, spirited form so drastically different from the reserved woman she had to be among the other umbra.

Without warning, a gust of wind blasted across the field, its heavy coldness a grim reminder of oncoming winter’s, but as Jeanne quickly adjusted her poise in air to compensate her mind was not on the cold, but on Cereza.

Who let out a panicked caw as the force struck her, wings bent back and flailing helplessly as her black body careened back to earth.

Jeanne dove, eyes locked on the spot where Cereza had fallen, unable to see anything through the tall grass. Her talons brushed across said grass and she shifted, deftly catching herself on hands and knees and she wildly called.“Cereza!”

A peal of laughter answered her and she sagged in relief as Cereza’s head popped up, her mask askew and cherry colored lips pulled back from her teeth as she laughed aloud.

Jeanne sighed and got to her feet, walking the few steps to Cereza’s position and then settling down beside the near hysterical woman, half glaring all the while. “I don’t see what’s so funny. ”

That only made Cereza laugh harder, and as annoyed as Jeanne was at her for causing her to fear, she couldn’t help but smile. Cereza rarely laughed with so much feeling.

“That was incredible,” Cereza finally managed through gasps, “and a very clever trick on your part.” Her blue-grey eyes flashed with mirth as she reached over and lightly shoved Jeanne’s shoulder with.

“Well, a good teacher finds ways to instruct her students, no matter how stubborn they are.” She quipped back, then her expression melted into concern. "Are you alright Cereza? That was quite a fall.“

Cereza glanced down at herself. "All seems to be in working order, my birdy self isn’t as fragile as I thought it would be,” she reached up and ran a hair under her hood, fingers combing through her rich black hair. “Oh?” she pulled back with a puzzled expression, revealing a single black feather clutched between her fingers. “Well it seems like I did knock a few feathers out of place, nothing I can’t regrow though.”

Jeanne frowned at the feather, guts twisting at the very idea of Cereza being injured. “You’ll need more flying practice,” she said sharply “and time to get to feel of the wind so it doesn’t throw you like that ever again.” She glanced over at the setting sun and pursed her lips. “We’ve run out of time for today, I need to head back to study with my mother or she’ll suspect something. Hm, perhaps we can try tomo-”

She was cut off by the feel of a hand running across her head, and then a light tug on her side hair bun. When the pressure released she looked curiously back at Cereza, who was smiling softly.

“A token for the lady.” She said, looking between Jeanne’s eyes and her hair.

Confused, Jeanne reached up and touched her bun, first feeling the intricate wire netting that held in in place, and then sliding over something smooth and crisp. Cereza’s feather, neatly perched in her hair.

“Thank you, Jeanne.” Cereza said with that same soft smile, her every word earnest. “For teaching me, for helping me find my wings.”

Jeanne’s hand left the feather and moved to cup Cereza’s face, drawing her in for a slow kiss as the last of the sunlight faded and a new umbra night began.  
'Thank you for being mine.’ She thought, deepening the kiss.

It was over five hundred years later before she finally said it aloud, a odd little thing that sounded corny next to all the other things they said to each other, but it made Cereza laugh and toy with the feather in her hair.  
'I could shed a few dozen more feathers and actually make you a full pair of wings if you like,’  
Jeanne swatted at her, and when she let her hair grow long again, she left the feather in a glass on the night stand.  
Her wings were back.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this about a year ago after i noticed the black feather in Jeanne's hair during the original Bayonetta game. It struck me then that it may have belonged to Cereza's crow form, and thus this fluffy one-shot was born. :) I hope you have enjoyed this short story.


End file.
